To all the 40+ Indians, your fitness is important!

Age, as a whole, brings in a lot of problems with itself. The generation beyond the age of 35 complains of body aches, knee problems, backache, etc. these days. A significant reason for these problems is de-generation in the human body. And because of the de-generation, they begin to lose muscle mass, their bone density decreases, and overall health plummets.

The mentality about fitness in India is extremely limited. They do things as a courtesy and not interest. Growing up in India, we never saw any 35-year-old plus being enthusiastic about their fitness regime or having a professional trainer to teach them the scientific aspect of Fitness in their day to day life. 

Young Generation V/S Old on Fitness Regimes:

Now - a - days, we see many young individuals, who genuinely take an interest in fitness and exercise. They see fitness as a crucial part of their daily routine. Hence they follow their fitness regime religiously. 

The reason behind that is their contact with technology. Internet access has made it very simple for the younger generation and keeps them updated about the world through their mobile phones or laptops. There are people everywhere heading towards the journey of fitness and inspiring everyone.

On other hand, the older generation's mindset about fitness is very different from the younger ones. They feel it is only for athletes, bodybuilders, and Bollywood celebrities. As a result, they don’t see fitness as something that’s even a necessity for a regular office going person. Fitness is limited to lean looks and good shape for most of them. They focus more on the outside part of fitness, rather than internal changes to make within their body.

The Cultural Shift for the Pre - 90s Generation:

Every kid born before the 90s era was naturally fit. The life in that era was different because they weren’t stuck on their I-Pads. They used to go outside and play all day. Also, there wasn’t a lot of packaged food like Maggie available during those days. 

Technology wasn't advanced and eating out was a privilege. All the junk food wasn't delivered to them with a click on their phone. So all these elements added up together, and kept those kids healthy, without any special effort towards their fitness.

The downside to it is, the older generation never got introduced to the concept of fitness. And now, this generation has grown up. They eat at all the unhealthy food spots, have access to all the packaged food items, and eat junk more than ever. 

Their mindset about new technology developed yet for fitness, it did not. They consider that fitness is not something that you work on unless you are an athlete or an actor. As a result, their body consumes junk food from the year 2020 but follow the fitness regime from the 80s, sounds like a terrible combination.

Older Generation and Exercises:

Alright! So now, let’s have a look at the exercise patterns of the older generations, living in the 2020s. Answer this honestly, how often do people from the older generation say things like - “Gym isn’t a thing for me. I am doing great with my morning walk.” 

“Push-Ups and all aren’t that great. Swimming is by far the best exercise.” Now, over here we would like to make a point that by no chance are we saying that swimming, walking or running aren’t good exercises. They are definitely good, but they aren’t enough.

Science behind Exercises:

Why are we saying that they are not enough? Let's take a look at the science of it. Whenever you get a deep cut in your skin for instance, the skin that comes out fresh is generally tougher than the previous one. Fitness and Exercise work in the same way. 

If you put your body tissues through some stress then the newer ones would always turn out to be tougher than the previous ones. Now in the case of swimming, running, or walking, you're only using Air Resistance, or maybe Water in case of swimming. And the muscles are only used for a bit and not making full use of them.

As a result, that creates only a light scratch on your skin. That puts very little stress on your body. You’re not giving your body a big enough reason to fight and become stronger. However, with weight or resistance training, or even something like Yoga, you are giving a lot of stress to your body in general.

So, you are damaging your muscles tissue so much that the new ones in place would come out much stronger. Stronger muscles result in an overall stronger human being. And a stronger human being means a healthier individual. If you don’t give your body a good enough reason to fight, it won’t grow stronger.

An essential balance:

Swimming and Walking can help you increase your stamina and endurance, but it won’t help you in making your muscles stronger. In fact too much walking or running can harm your knees after an age. Here, strength doesn’t refer to huge muscles or athletic body building. It just means Functional Strength - Enough strength to live your old age in a healthy way.

In conclusion, we would just recommend you to put your body through some form of training. Something that would put more stress on your body than running or swimming would. Yoga, Kick Boxing, Weight Training, Resistance Training - Something that gives your muscles a reason to still stay strong, and prevent your body from de-generational diseases in the old age. Embrace something that will make you stronger tomorrow, than you are today. You owe it to your body, and you owe it to your kids. So something that challenges your body every single day.

Do something that will make your body stronger than it was yesterday.